Bella tapped her access card to enter one of the hotel rooms rented by her best friend, Hazel, after attending a farewell party for Hazel's girlfriend, who was leaving to study in Korea. The door swung open, and Bella stepped into the suite.
Her entire body was utterly exhausted and sticky with sweat. She had just arrived from Los Angeles that afternoon, gone straight to see her grandfather, and then driven all the way to Bandung in her favorite sports car. She walked into the bathroom and headed toward a circular bathtub positioned against the glass wall of the luxurious bathroom.
Bella turned on the warm water tap to fill the tub, placing her palm under the streaming water. Just the touch of it made her impatient to sink inside and pamper herself in a warm bath mixed with bubble bath. She lit a few aromatherapy candles resting on the counter beside the tub. After waiting for a brief moment, the bathtub was finally filled to the brim, a blanket of white foam covering its surface.
She shed her clothes one by one, then stepped into the bathtub. Instantly, a wave of comfort washed over her body. She scrubbed every inch of herself to wash away the grime, revealing her flawless, porcelain-white skin. The aroma of the bubble bath and the scented candles allowed her mind to finally relax.
"Logan's hotels always deliver the best service," Bella murmured to herself.
Instantly, her mind drifted to Logan, the guy who had been her partner in crime a year ago. A naive high school boy who had shared a similar fate to hers—living as a child groomed from infancy to inherit a massive corporate empire. In fact, Logan's fate had been far more harrowing; he had suffered domestic abuse at the hands of his father. It was her instigation back then that finally drove the once-good boy to rebel against his father. Bella was the one who taught him how to drink, smoke, street race, and how to act and speak so that others wouldn't dare look down on him. As a result, Logan successfully transformed into a strong man and even became the leader of the motorcycle gang at Centauri High, one of the elite schools in Jakarta.
Yet, Logan had found another path and managed to escape that dark world. In fact, the guy—who was still a mere kid in Bella's eyes—was now married.
Married.
That word had never once crossed Bella's mind. All this time, her life had been focused solely on making her grandfather miserable. She was determined to remain a brat, a rebellious granddaughter, and an absolute nuisance until the very end. Ever since her parents died in an accident, Bella had continuously blamed and deeply resented her grandfather.
"If Grandfather wants me to get married, fine, I'll find a guy. But I'll find a guy Grandfather will absolutely never accept," Bella muttered, gazing out at the shimmering city lights of Bandung through the glass wall in front of her tub. "But who could it be?" she asked no one in particular.
Her mind raced, filtering through the men she had met, trying to think of someone she could marry just to make her grandfather give up on arranging her marriage with his handpicked suitors. But none of them fit Bella's criteria. They were all inevitably from wealthy families, dressed in suits, sporting luxury accessories, driving high-end vehicles, and acting like romantic Cassanovas.
They were the type who could buy Bella out an entire boutique of famous designer brands, or rent out a whole restaurant and fill a swimming pool with fresh red roses just for a romantic dinner. Or they would invite Bella to have fun on yachts or private jets just to charm her. But to Bella, all those men were incredibly boring.
She wanted a different kind of man. Someone who could make her feel challenged to conquer him. A man who was completely unfazed by her beauty and immense wealth. Thinking about it left Bella feeling frustrated. A man who would look at her simply for who she was, blind to her looks, her money, and her stunning body—did such a man even exist in this world?
Bella decided to end her bath session as the foam on the water's surface began to dissipate. She stood up, walked over to the shower area, and rinsed off the remaining soap clinging to her skin. Then, she walked over to grab the bathrobe hanging next to the tub.
THUD!
Bella startled at the sound coming from outside the bathroom window. She whipped her head toward the glass. A man was dangling out there, a harness securing the lower half of his body. The sound had come from his boots planting against the glass wall as his body weight gradually lowered him down.
"Who does facade cleaning at this hour?" Bella questioned angrily, feeling annoyed, especially since she had been completely undressed just moments before.
The man, a professional facade cleaner, began wiping down the exterior glass window. He didn't seem to notice Bella, as the glass was tinted with a one-way mirror film. Having put on her bathrobe, Bella walked over to the glass wall. She wanted to observe him from a closer distance.
The man hung from a single rope directly in front of Bella. He looked young. He had thick eyebrows, a sharp nose, and remarkably handsome lips. Every now and then, he smiled as he admired the breathtaking glow of Bandung's city lights behind him from the 45th floor. That man's smile completely mesmerized Bella.
He wore a white t-shirt under a plaid shirt beneath his safety gear. His arms looked incredibly strong and muscular, and his short black hair fluttered in the wind, which she was certain must be blowing fiercely out there.
Bella also found herself admiring his bravery for doing such a hazardous job. His body was suspended by nothing but a single rope, yet he looked like he was thoroughly enjoying his work.
Suddenly, the man seemed to realize Bella was staring at him. His face washed over with shock as he spotted Bella inside the bathroom, watching him with her arms crossed over her chest.
The man looked up, shouting to someone above. He then pressed his hands together in a pleading gesture, seemingly mouthing 'sorry' to Bella. After that, the rope lowered him to the floor below.
Bella banged on the glass, but the man was no longer looking her way.
"HEY!" Bella yelled as the rope carried him further down.
Bella immediately rushed out of the room. Clad in nothing but her bathrobe, she ran toward the elevator and pressed the button for the rooftop. She waited anxiously until the elevator doors slid open. Bella spotted a middle-aged man standing near the edge of the building, monitoring and ensuring the rope remained secure for the man cleaning the glass below.
Bella dashed to the edge of the roof, leaning her upper body against the chest-high perimeter wall.
"Miss! Miss, what are you doing! It's dangerous over there, Miss!" the middle-aged man shouted in a panic.
Bella looked down and saw the young man still suspended by the rope, diligently cleaning the windows. His body seemed to crawl along the glass wall, looking exactly like Spider-Man in the movies.
"Sir, who is that guy?" Bella asked the middle-aged man, who was still staring at her anxiously.
"Who, Miss?"
"That guy down there doing the facade cleaning." Bella pointed downward.
"Oh, he's a part-time worker, Miss. The gondola we usually use for cleaning is broken, so we called in a part-timer who can clean using the rope access technique."
"A part-timer? So he doesn't actually work for this hotel?" Bella inquired.
"No, Miss. None of us in the facade cleaning service are employees of this hotel. We are from a cleaning service company. I myself am only on a 6-month contract here, Miss."
"What about him?" Bella pressed further.
"As for him, we often call him in whenever the company is short-handed, Miss. Because those who can pull off the rope access technique are still quite rare in our company."
"Will he be coming up here later?"
"I don't think so, Miss. He's cleaning all the way down to the bottom floor and won't be coming back up. He mentioned earlier that once he's done, he's packing up his gear and heading straight back to Jakarta."
"He lives in Jakarta?!"
"Yes, Miss," the man replied, finding Bella's barrage of questions increasingly peculiar.
"If I wanted to find him, do you happen to have his address? Can I have it?"
"Oh, I wouldn't know that, Miss. I only know he hangs around the Black Panther gang headquarters."
"He's in a motorcycle gang?" Bella asked, well-aware of the notorious gang made up of rebellious youths on the outskirts of Jakarta.
"He claims he isn't. But who knows."
"What's his name, Sir?"
"Dev, Miss."
Dev.
Even just hearing his name sent a thrill through Bella. She looked back down at Dev, who was still hanging from the rope, occupied with cleaning the windows of the Logan Ritz Hotel.
I've found him. The guy I'm going to marry. I'm going to marry you, Dev, Bella vowed silently in her heart.